"Irfan Ahmad’s perception is indeed different from what is often depicted in the media. He scoffs at established traditions, and questions common perceptions… He brings a different perspective, whether he is analysing attacks on Indians Down Under or writing about evolution of Jamaat-e-Islami."

The HinduNew Delhi, 8 February, 2010

Welcome to Irfan Ahmad’s website!

Irfan Ahmad is Associate Professor of Political Anthropology at the Institute for Religion, Politics and Society, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne. Earlier, he was a senior lecturer in politics at Monash University, Australia where he taught for nearly five years (2009-2013). Before moving to Australia, he taught at Utrecht University and University of Amsterdam. He won Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research’s (NWO) Rubicon Postdoctoral Grant to undertake his postdoctoral research at Leiden University where he moved to on completing his doctorate (cum laude) in anthropology from University of Amsterdam. Irfan is the author of Islamism and Democracy in India: The Transformation of the Jamaat-e-Islami (Princeton University Press, 2009) which was short-listed for the 2011 ICAS (International Convention of Asian Scholars) Book Prize for the best study in the field of Social Sciences.

Initially educated in Madrasa Islāmīa ‘Arabīa (Islamic Seminary) in his native village of north Bihar, India, Irfan Ahmad later went to a state-run Hindi-medium Middle and High School and subsequently to B.N. College, Patna. He earned his Bachelor’s in Sociology (Hons.) from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi where he was a university topper. To pursue his higher education, he joined Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi where he completed his Masters and M.Phil. (in Sociology).Irfan Ahmad’s numerous research articles have appeared in leading international/global journals such as Anthropological Theory, Citizenship Studies, Economic and Political Weekly, Global Networks: A Journal of Transnational Affairs, IESHR, Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, Modern Asian Studies, Philosophy and Social Criticism, Politics, Religion & Ideology, Public Culture, Seminar and The Annual of Urdu Studies. He is a contributor to the The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought. Irfan is on the Editorial Committee of South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies; previously he served as its Reviews Editor during 2010–2012. Currently, he is an Associate Editor of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations (both from Routledge). With sociologist Bryan S. Turner Irfan is the founding co-editor of the new journal Journal of Religious and Political Practice, published by Taylor & Francis; the inaugural issue will appear in the summer of 2015.

In the past he wrote for the Urdu media and magazines like Qaumī Avāz, Qaumī Tanzīm, Rāshtriya Sahārā, Sangam, Chāoñ, Gulābi Kiran, and contributed to leading South Asian English magazines and semi-academic journals such as Himal: South Asian Magazine, Mainstream, The Radical Humanist, The Third Concept, Business Today and World Fcous. He actively contributes to important debates in such media as Al-Jazeera(English), The Times of India, OpenDemocracy and The Hindu. His interviews have appeared in print, audio and televisions in Dutch, English, Hindi, Malayalam, Turkish and Urdu media such as BBC Urdu, Channel News Asia (TV, Singapore) The Hindu,SBS Hindi, Voice of Russia, and People’s TV.

This website aims to offer an overview of Irfan Ahmad’s academic life. Like many other things, this website too is a work-in-progress. You correctly noticed that the menu has “Main”, not “Home”. “Home” is a term with seeds of violence (this work is in progress).You may also wish to visit Irfan’s profile at Australian Catholic University.

If you wish to get in touch with Irfan Ahmad, please click contact or email at < [email protected]>.

Share this Page:

Ahmad, Irfan. 2013b. Interview with SBS Urdu Radio (8.25 Minutes) broadcast on 18 August 2013 about the massacre of pro-democracy protesters by the Egyptian state and its political implication at national, regional and international levels.